Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Now Is the Right Time to Consolidate Student Loans

Now Is the Right Time to Consolidate Student LoansStudents graduate from college with that prize possession: the much-anticipated college degree. Then there are those students who graduate college with that added bonus: a stack of student loans. While searching for the ultimate job, the last thing a student needs is worrying about how to pay off a ton of student loans.Student Loan Consolidation in One Simple PaymentIt would make life so much easier to pay one student loan bill instead of five, six, seven or even eight – sometimes more! After graduation there’s so much to think about: finding the ultimate job, finding a place to live, and figuring out how to pay for everything. Thinking about paying monthly student loan bills certainly will not make life easy or happy. No one enjoys paying bills. The task becomes even worse and more stressful when there are piles of bills to pay. By consolidating student loans life will get easier and payments might be lower.Fast Track to Student Loan ConsolidationConsolidation isn’t a foreign word and it’s not too big of a word to understand. Consolidation is easy. It combines all of a student’s loans into one payment. It’s that simple. It’s easy as pie and will let you breathe easier too. Student loan consolidation is convenient and allows you to combine all your loans. In addition, consolidation is no longer only geared toward federal loans. Now students also can consolidate their private loans.The Time is Now for Student Loan ConsolidationThere’s no time like the present to consolidate outstanding student loans. Even though interest rates on federal student loans were at their lowest from July 1, 2004 to July 1, 2005, it’s still a great time to combine student loans. The rates most likely will increase in July 2006, so consolidating now is a bright idea. Federal student loan consolidation can be as low as 4.75 percent. Private student loan consolidation depends on the lender, and the borrower’s credit.Students who have multiple student loans oftentimes are inundated with varying interest rates and repayment terms. Getting it all in order every month can prove to be a literal nightmare.Student Loan Consolidation IncentivesWith federal student loan consolidation, rates are fixed. Students also can take advantage of deferment, forbearance and cancellation options.Another highlight of student loan consolidation is the extension of payments. Many students find they can extend a 10-year repayment plan to as long as 30 years. This depends on a borrower’s balance, so it’s important to check out the options. Student loan consolidation offers students the same interest rate on the same amount, but for a longer term, hence better affordability.There are so many good reasons to get on the road to student loan consolidation. By taking a stack of student loan bills and combining them into one, it’s like a magic trick. However, it’s a trick that will help ease life for many students who are inundated with multiple loan bills, not to mention all of the other daily stresses of life for graduating students.